Translational propulsion pump



July 28, 1 959 Filed'Feb.' 4, 1957 I A v I dmzfo/ R. v. BRULLE TRANSLATIONAL PROPULSION PUMP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

July 28, 19 59 R. v. BRULLE v TRANSLATIONAL PROPULSION PUMP 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 4, 19 57 INVENTOR. :oeaer M 816 16- United Sttes The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the United StatesGovernrnent for governmentalpurposes without payment tome of any royalty thereon. v

The present invention relates to a low pressure, high volume propulsion apparatus or pumping device foruse in the transmission of'liquids wherein a rotational blade assembly is utilized to imparta'continuous,translational force on the liquid in the direction of flow.

In rotary pumping devices of the constant delivery type, rotary motion of a series of vanes or gears is often utilized to carry the fluid in a path which is normally circular, elliptical or' the like from suction to discharge. Inone class of pumps of this type, the rotor is a solid cylinder which is fittedwith a series of individually rotatable blades or vanes. The blades are turned through a one half counter revolution as the main rotor travels one revolution with the blades carrying the liquid the rotary path between theouter periphery of the rotor and the'interior wall of thecasing.

Although the present invention incidentally incorporates the relative movement between the rotor andvanes of the above described rotor pump, it represents a novel approach in the pump art by introducing a changeinthe design characteristics of the'rotor itself to permit direct flow through the rotor assembly and by utilizing the relative movement between the vanesand the rotor to impart a continuous, translational force in the direction of liquid flow, instead of converting the flow to rotary motion. Preferably, the rotor design is changed by form ing a hollow frame on which the blades" are mounted, the blades being individually rotatable on the frame so that the liquid is free to pass directly across the rotor frame instead of following a path around its periphery. As adi rect result,it is possible to provide a high capacity pump in relation to the size and weight of the pump itself.

The constructionand operational characteristics of the present i nvention also makes possible the application of cycloidal propulsion. This is accomplished by constructing the rotor of a recessed, molded frame consisting of two blade foil or vane mounting wheels spaced at each end of a casing in which the wheels have an axis of rotation"disposed at right angles to the path of flow through the casing. Inthis way, the path of fiowis between the mounting wheels rather than around the periphery of the rotor. Symmetric blade foils or vanes are then mountedat evenly spaced intervals around the periphery of the wheels with the axis of rotation of the blades or vanes also at right angles to the path'of flow Hereinafter, reference is made primarily to blades only for the sake of simplicity but it is understood that vanes and'the like are synonymous therewith. It is also noted that the use of the phrase blade chords is referred to hereinafter. Itis to be understood that the invention blades of blade foils described'herein are quite similar to air foils, andas such, include a chord or chord line well known in the art as simply the line of a atent straight edge brought into contact withfthe lower surface of the airfoil or, as in the instant case, the-blade or blade foil or vane. In the:case of. a symmetrical foilf as in the present case, the chor or .chord line is a straight line joining the leading and trailing edges, only one of which is illustrated in phantom at 40 in Fig. 2

the liquid with respect to the blades, the resultant veloc ity of the liquid with respect to therotor will act in a direction through a common. control point at. the top center of the circular path followed by the. blade axis.

-As the blades follow a. circular path about theaxis of rotation of the rotor wheels, the blades are made individually rotatable so that the chords of each blade are aligned in the direction ofthis resultant velocity of the liquid. Of course, where theperipheral velocity of the liquid is equal to its translational velocity, the blades will not transmit any positive force to the liquid flow; however, by increasing or decreasing the peripheral velocity. of the liquid with respect to the rotor, a definite angle of attack is established'between the blades and the liquid at each point on the path of rotation of the blades.

As a consequence, a definite relationship can be. established between the resultant velocity of theliquid and the attitude of the, blades so. that a positive or negative slip can be establised therebetween. A positive slip is created by increasing theperipheralvelocity of the liquid so that it is greater than its translational-velocity; of course, this is done byincreasing the speed ofrotation of the rotor wheels. The positive slip will then be apositive, resultant force in the direction of fluid flow. Furthermore, a summation of the forces on a series of blades evenly spacedabout theperiphery of the wheels;Will cancel the resultant vertical-force components, leaving a summation of horizontal force components in the-same direction so as-tocstablisha balanced, translational fore in the direction of flow. W p

Apart from-the principle of cycloidal propulsion, another definite relationship can bezestirnated between the directionof fluid fl owand; path of the rotating blades by disposing the inlet and discharge flow.directions at some inclined; angle to the horizontal. .Theemosh efficient angle of disposition of the intake and discharge-ports can be determined by-resolving theforce vectors of the blades on the intake anddischarge sides of the rotor, thenaligning the respective ports in the direction of resultant force on each side. This .aproach to the use of my translational home construction will differ from the utilization of. cycloidal propulsion inthat the force applied by each blade will vary and a consistent force will not always :be imparted by each individual blade; however, the total force exerted can be made somewhat greater and is useful in many situations where a straight flow path is not desired.

As aresult, it is possible. to attain a low pressure high capacity flow through a compact, light weight pump by the. elimination of the solid rotor assembly in the easing and by establishing the above relations between the blade rotation and directional flow of the fluid. To gain a clear. understanding of the present invention and the novel features incorporated therein, there follows a detaileddescription of the apparatus. and its operation, together with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig.1 llis avertical sectional view of thetranslational pump construction to be described; i

Fig. 2 is. a vertical sectional view taken about the lines 22 of Fig. 1 of one embodiment of my translational pump construction;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a modified embodiment in which the relation established between the liquid flow and blade rotation is based on the principle of cycloidal propulsion; and h Fig. 4 is a vector diagram of the relative velocity and force relations between the rotating blades and liquid flow wherein the principle of cycloidal propulsion is utilized.

In the embodiment in Figs. 1 and 2 wherein the intake and discharge openings or ports 37, 38 are disposed at an inclined angle to the horizontal as in Fig. 2, a liquid propulsion apparatus or pumping device is shown which is broadly comprised of an outer casing 12 with a rotor assembly 13 mounted therein having suitable driving means (not shown) to drive a rotor shaft 14 which is supported by bearings 15 across the center of the casing In the rotor assembly 13, two circular wheels or drums 18 are spaced apart and mounted on the rotor shaft 14 adjacent the opposite, interior end walls 16 of the casing by means of a hub or spool 19 secured to the rotor shaft 14. The wheels 18, which are cylindrical, are both provided with a series of six aligned blade mounting apertures 17 evenly spaced around the periphery of the wheels at an equal distance from the axis of rotation of the rotor shaft. Inserted into each pair of aligned apertures 17 on the wheels 18 are blade or vane shaft segments 20 for the respective mounting of six blade foils or vanes 21 between the wheels, each of the shaft segments 20 adjacent one end of each of said blades or vanes 21 constituting the ends of a T-fitting 30 fastened to one end of each of said blades. Of course, the number of blades and respective apertures can be varied in accordance with the performance requirements of the pump and relative size.

Each blade foil or vane 21 preferably has a flattened, diamond shaped cross section as shown in Fig. 2 with the opposite, tapered sides extending outwardly symmetrically about the longitudinal axis of the vane shaft 20. As the blades are rotated by the wheels 18 through the rotor shaft 14, the individual rotation of the blades with respect to the wheels is controlled by a cylindrical cam receiving plate 25 which is bolted to one of the walls 16 of the casing 12 as shown in Fig. l. The face of the cam plate 25 is slotted or grooved to form a pair of channels, namely, an inner channel 27 and an outer channel 28 as clearly seen in dotted lines in Fig. 2, straddling the blade path of rotation from a point just below the top center of the vertical center line of the rotor and extending about the periphery thereof. To correctly position the blades as they are rotated through each revolution, bearing disks 29 are used as cam followers slidably disposed in the channels 27 and 28 and are connected to the shaft segments 20 through arms of the T-fittings .30. The disks 29 position the blades so that at any instant the blades point towards the top center line position A in Fig. 2.

In using the cam arrangement as described, it is to be noted that it is possible for the blades to reverse directions as they swing toward the bottom point on the cam plate. To prevent this, a leaf spring 32 is secured to the lower cam follower to create an added friction on the lower side of each blade as it passes through the bottom point so that the upper portion of the follower will tend to lead the movement of the lower portion. In addition, an abutment 34 can be secured to the top portion of the casing as shown in Fig. 2 to prevent the flow of liquid over the blades as they pass through a horizontal, center position at the top control point A.

In that each blade is controlled to rotate through onehalf counter revolutions in. each cycle, it is to be further noted that the leading face of the blade will alternate for each revolution of the wheel. For this reason, it is necessary that the blades be symmetricalin orderto maintain a constant attitude with respect to the liquid through each revolution of the wheel.

The outer casing'lz in Fig. 2 is substantially symmetrical having a central, annular midsection to accommodate the rotor assembly. Communicating with opposite sides of the casing are intake and discharge ports or openings 37 and 38, respectively, which verge outwardly from the midsection of the casing at an inclined angle to the horizontal so as to be aligned in the direction of the resultant force vectors on the intake and discharge sides of the rotor respectively. Each blade 21 has a similar chord or chord line shown in phantom at 40 for one blade only in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings and as a vector 40 in Fig. 4 of the drawings. With each blade chord or chord line 40 aligned to pass through the top control point A due to the particular arrangement of channels 27 and 28 the optimum angle 'for fluid flow is established at 42 upwardly from the horizontal on each side of the vertical center line of the rotor assembly. By varying the configuration of the inner and outer channels 27 and 28, it is possible to change the control point A to relate the attitude of the rotating blades with the desired direction of flow through the casing and between the rotor assembly. Therefore, regardless of the selection of control point and configuration of the cam arrangement, the resultant force of the blades on the intake side can always be made to conform to the direction of fluid flow into the casing, and the resultant force imparted by the blades on the discharge sides can be made to coincide with the desired direction of flow out of the discharge port.

Where it is feasible to establish a straight line path of flow through the pump, the principle of cycloidal propulsion can be embodied in the construction of the pump, as shown in Fig. 3, and used to great advantage. This principle is incorporated into the pump design merely by aligning the intake and discharge ports of openings 37a and 38a, respectively on a common axis, such as the horizontal axis, as shown. To more clearly set forth the reaction of the blaide foils on the liquid in Fig. 3, a vector analysis diagram is shown in Fig. 4 of the velocity and force relations between the liquid and the blades. In this analysis, the path of flow is in a horizontal direction from right to left on the diagram, and the blades are rotating clockwise, the chords of the blades being represented at spaced intervals along their path of rotation by vectors 40, and the path of travel of the blade axis being represented by a circle 41 through the midpoint of the chordal vectors 40.

As the blades are rotated in a clockwise direction, the liquid flows into the path of said blades at a translational velocity, V and a peripheral velocity with respect to the point V in a counterclockwise direction as shown in Fig. 4. Assuming that the peripheral velocity and translational velocity are equal at each point along the circle 41, the resultant velocity V of the liquid will always lie in a direction along a line intersecting the common control point A at the top center of the central path. As shown, the chordal vectors 40 of each blade are aligned in the direction of the resultant velocity V A definite relationship can thereby be established between each blade at each point of rotation in a cycle and the resultant velocity of the liquid. Then, by increasing the speed of rotation of the wheels, the peripheral velocity of the liquid will be increased as shown, to V and a resultant velocity V is obtained to establish a definite angle of attack between the blades and liquid flow at each point along the path of rotation 41, and in the direction of fluid flow.

The total force reaction, F, of the liquid on the blades at each point on the circle can be resolved into a horizontal force component F and a vertical force component F Summation of the vertical force components on each side of the vertical center line of the circle 41 will cancel the vertical forces; however, the total horizontal force components will lie in the same direction and are thus additive. The resultant blade force is therefore in the opposite, -horizontal -directionilr the"same direction as the liquid flow. From this analysis of cycloidal propulsion, it.can be vectorially shown that each blade will impart a continuousftrans'lationalforce on the liquid as it describes eachcycle of revolution through the liquid. In this respect, thecyoloidal prepulsienferm differs from the inclined translational-pump tlia't the total "force reaction *ofthe entire-rotor assembly-is *considered as distinguished from the reactiofi on each side of *the rotor assembly; "also a definite angle of blad attack can be established at each point in the path of rotation so as to provide a steady, balanced application of force by each blade on the liquid.

In both the horizontal and inclined pump devices the primary features of the pump lie in their ability to apply a continuous, translational force in the direction of liquid flow which is made possible by eliminating the solid type rotor assembly and by resolving the blade rotation into a definite pattern with respect to the liquid flow. Of course, the capacity of the pumps is increased by establishing a direct channel of flow between the intake and discharge openings; also the pump can be operated in either direction due to the symmetrical arrangement of the rotor assembly and the intake and discharge ports.

It is to be understood that other modifications and changes in the form and arrangement of the parts may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the nature and spirit of the invention, as defined in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a translational liquid propulsion device having a rotor assembly and an outer casing housing said rotor assembly and having intake and discharge ports in opposite communication therewith, a rotor shaft rotatably mounted in said outer casing, a pair of blade-mounting wheels fixedly mounted in spaced, parallel relation on said rotor shaft, each of said pair of wheels incorporating a plurality of blade-mounting apertures circumferentially disposed around the periphery thereof, a plurality of shaft segments positioned in said plurality of blade-mounting apertures, a plurality of blades fixedly mounted on said plurality of shaft segments between said pair of blademounting wheels, said plurality of shaft segments positioned in the plurality of blade-mounting apertures incorporated in one of said pair of blade-mounting wheels constituting the ends of a plurality of T-fittings fastened thereto, a pair of bearing disks mounted on each of said plurality of T-fittings in spaced relation opposite respective shaft segments, a camreceiving plate affixed within said outer casing adjacent to one of said pair of blademounting wheels and having a pair of channels incorporated therein disposed on opposite sides of the blade path of rotation and extending from a common point adjacent to and below the top center of the rotor assembly and in respective engagement with said pair of bearing disks on each of said plurality of T-fittings to independently rotate said plurality of blades on rotation of said pair of wheels.

2. In a translational liquid propulsion device as in claim 1, each of the lowermost of said bearing disks incorporating a spring device in frictional engagement with the bottom portion of one of said pair of channels during rotation thereof to prevent each of said plurality of blades from reversing direction.

3. A translational liquid propulsion apparatus comprising, a casing having liquid intake and discharge openings communicating therewith, and a rotor assembly positioned in said casing and having a rotor shaft transversely positioned therein relative to said openings, said rotor assembly comprising a pair of spaced-apart wheels fixedly mounted on said rotor shaft for rotation therewith and having a plurality of circumferentially disposed openings incorporated therein, a plurality of rotatably mounted blade-mounting segments positioned in said openings, a

- plurality of blade foils rotatably mounted in circumferenmeans for independently rotating said plurality of blade foils; said means comprising i a flat circular cam member mountedwithin' 'saic'l (Easing parallel to and-adjacent one of said wheel's and havingka first" cir'cum ferential groove incorpofated th'erei'n and a second circumferential groove incorporated therein and merging into said first circumferentialgroo've at a preselected location just below the top center of said rotor assembly and extending into a pair of groove portions arranged on opposite sides of the path of rotation of said plurality of blade foils, a pair of cam followers affixed to one end of each of said respective pairs of rotatably mounted segments and respectively engaged in spaced relation in said circumferential grooves incorporated in said cam member.

4. A liquid propulsion device comprising, a liquid pump assembly, and a casing housing said pump assembly having intake and discharge ports in opposite communication with said pump assembly, said pump assembly comprising a rotor shaft positioned in said casing transverse to the direction of liquid flow and adapted to be driven, a plurality of relatively elongated vanes mounted on said rotor shaft on axes parallel to and spaced from said rotor shaft for rotation about said rotor shaft at a velocity greater than the intake velocity of the liquid being pumped therethrough, and means for independently rotating said plurality of vanes simultaneous with their rotation about said rotor shaft, said means comprising, a channelled plate having a pair of substantially concentric grooves incorporated on the surface thereof loosely mounted on said rotor shaft adjacent said plurality of vanes and fixedly mounted in said casing, and interconnecting means attached to each of said plurality of vanes and respectively engaged in each of said pair of grooves independently rotating each of said plurality of vanes on rotation of said rotor shaft, said pair of grooves terminating in a common groove portion to insure that each of said plurality of vanes are continuously and simultaneously pointing in a predetermined direction.

5. A liquid pump apparatus, comprising in combination; an annular casing having intake and discharge openings in communication with the interior of said casing for the translational flow of fluid therethrough, and a rotor assembly mounted within said casing between said intake and discharge ports to impart a continuous, translational force upon the fluid in the direction of fluid flow, said rotor assembly consisting of a central rotatably mounted shaft positioned in said annular casing, a pair of vane mounting wheels fixedly disposed on said shaft in spaced relation for rotation with said shaft at a velocity exceeding the intake velocity of the liquid, a series of vanes positioned between and pivoted to the peripheries of said pair of wheels for rotation therewith on rotation of said central shaft, and means for successively turning said vanes about their shaft axes counter to the direction of rotation of said wheels so as to impart a continuous, resultant force in the direction of flow of said fluid, said means comprising a disk fixedly mounted within said annular casing adjacent one end of said central shaft and incorporating a pair of cam grooves therein on the face thereof and straddling the path of rotation of said series of vanes, and interconnecting cam follower means attached to the pivots of each of said series of vanes to one of said pair of wheels and engaged in said pair of cam grooves.

6. A liquid pump apparatus as in claim 5, each of said vanes having a chord line aligned to pass through a common central point controlled by their engagement with said pair of cam grooves during rotation of said series of vanes about said central shaft.

7. A liquid pump apparatus as in claim 5, said intake and discharge openings being in aligned, straight-line disposition relative to the flow of liquid therethrough corresponding to a predetermined configuration of said pair of cam grooves imparting a predetermined resultant force on each of said vanes.

8. A liquid pump apparatus as in claim 5, said intake and discharge openings being at a predetermined angle above the horizontal corresponding to a particular angle of attack of said series of vanes relative to the selected direction of liquid flow therethrough to impart a continuous, translational force in the direction of said liquid flow. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Muller Nov. 29, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Denmark Jan. 19, 1921 Great Britain Mar. 27, 1924 Great Britain Dec. 14, 1948 Germany Aug. 3, 1953 

